James Harlan

James Harlan (26 August 1820-5 October 1899) was a US Senator from Iowa (R) from 4 March 1855 to 15 May 1865 (succeeding Augustus C. Dodge and preceding Samuel J. Kirkwood) and from 4 March 1867 to 4 March 1873 (succeeding Kirkwood and preceding William B. Allison). He also served as US Secretary of the Interior from 16 May 1865 to 31 August 1866 (succeeding John Palmer Usher and preceding Orville Hickman Browning.

Biography
James Harlan was born in Clark County, Illinois in 1820, and he became superintendent of schools in Iowa City, Iowa before becoming a lawyer in 1850. He became active in Whig politics, and he was elected to the US Senate in 1854 as a Free Soil Party candidate; he was removed from office for 24 days due to irregularities in the election, but he returned to office after the state legislature reconfirmed him. He failed to enact a compromise to prevent the outbreak of the American Civil War, and he resigned in 1865 to serve as Andrew Johnson's Secretary of the Interior. He then returned to the Senate from 1867 to 1873, and he died in 1899.